Award Winning House has Blackwood Floor

Last year the New Zealand Registered Master Builders 2011 House of the Year featured a stunning blackwood floor. But this was no blackwood imported blackwood from Tasmania, this was New Zealand plantation-grown blackwood.

The following is an article from the latest New Zealand Tree Grower journal (Feb 2012) written by Ian Nicholas and Paul Millen. Ian Nicholas is Chairman of AMIGO (the NZ blackwood growers group) and Paul Millen is a director of Marlborough Timbers

In November last year, a Marlborough Sounds house built by Glenroy Housing of Blenheim won the New Homes category $350,000 to $450,000 house of the year Registered Master Builders award. The house went on to claim the Supreme House of the Year award fighting off one and two million dollar houses. The house has been built for Marcus and Alex Myring who see their home as very special.

The Master Builders promotional description of the house states that locally milled blackwood has been laid in a distinctive pattern in the main living room, achieving a blend of warmth and sophistication and complementing the natural timber used extensively inside and out.

The judges in the new home category noted that the authentic blackwood timber flooring, locally milled and conditioned on site, has been laid to perfection with an innovative border trim, just one example of the complex detailing executed to perfection.

The timber for the floor was locally grown by Paul and Ash Millen of Marlborough Timbers at their forest, Tai Tane located nearby in Linkwater. They started sawing 18 to 20-year-old blackwood thinnings in 2004 when they first supplied timber for the floor of another Marlborough house.

Here is the builder’s website with lots more stunning images of the feature floor:

Examples like this clearly show that New Zealand farmers are well on track to producing high-quality, valuable, plantation-grown blackwood timber. Where are the Tasmanian farmers who will follow their New Zealand peers?